Beads, of course! Making beads was the start of my journey using polymer clay. It’s a great way to get started. And also fairly easy.  I think deciding on the pattern is the hardest part.

I’m sure you’ve heard of a kaleidoscope. That childhood toy where you place the tube to your eye and turn the end and as you look through the hole, you see and create lots of patterns.  Such a simple idea and so much fun.

This kind of pattern can be created using polymer clay.  Essentially, it’s several patterns put together to form one kaleidoscope.

You can create this pattern by making several canes or by using leftover canes. A cane is simply a log of polymer clay with a design that runs through the log.

The results are equally striking.

In the video, I’ve used several types of patterns – swirl, Skinner blend, mosaic and bullseye. When they’re put together, a unique pattern is created

This bead was created using a kaleidoscope pattern. In this one, similar tones of colours were used – purple, green, black and white – and in different canes.

So you can see how by taking simple cane patterns and combining them, you can create a completely new design.